Toward Fumeless Highways

January 11, 2000

Leave it to Japanese carmakers to be out of the gate a little faster than their Detroit competitors. The latest evidence of their quickness: two new "hybrid" vehicles, combining gasoline and electric propulsion, which should reach showrooms later this year.

Such cars are the first glimmers of a new automotive day, when a ride down a busy interstate highway won't mean exhaust fumes and damage to the atmosphere. Hybrids are designed to get super-high gas mileage, 50 m.p.g. and up, with greatly reduced tailpipe emissions.

The ultimate, of course, is the zero-emissions vehicle, powered either by improved electric engines or hydrogen fuel cells. It's way down the road yet.